Memorial Day Weekend grade for the Cubs

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Athletic just graded out all 30 MLB teams (it appears each team's local beat writer handed out the grades). The Cubs received a D+.

What grade would you give them through ~45 games of the season?

https://theathletic.com/4549233/2023/05/25/mlb-all-30-grades-memorial-day/

[PackLandVA]

Cubs started out 12-9 (on April 21) and were 14-10 in their first 24 games. In the next 24, the Cubs went 8-16.  wonder if there's recency bias in the grade.

I'd give the Cubs a C, maybe even a C+. They played over their heads early on, but I don't think the team is nearly as bad as the 6-16 stretch.  They had some bad luck and lost too many 1-run games. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

36 minutes ago, PackLandVA said:

Cubs started out 12-9 (on April 21) and were 14-10 in their first 24 games. In the next 24, the Cubs went 8-16.  wonder if there's recency bias in the grade.

I'd give the Cubs a C, maybe even a C+. They played over their heads early on, but I don't think the team is nearly as bad as the 6-16 stretch.  They had some bad luck and lost too many 1-run games. 

Which is pretty much the reasoning why I gave them a C.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

When you said they got a D+ I knew I only needed to ctrl-f for "mooney" to find the Cubs blurb.

C+/B-, the results aren't ideal but at Memorial Day it's a rounding error for where they should be expected to be.  For the team's long term trajectory the individual results have been good(save for Taillon and I guess Mervis) and bordering on too good(increased likelihood of Stroman opt out).  Their biggest areas for improvement save for just adding a stud hitter or SP are among the easier things to address both internally(bullpen shuffle) and externally(1B/DH are not expensive).  If they can get Taillon out of that funk and back to at least being competitive I'll feel pretty good about them moving forward.

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

When you said they got a D+ I knew I only needed to ctrl-f for "mooney" to find the Cubs blurb.

C+/B-, the results aren't ideal but at Memorial Day it's a rounding error for where they should be expected to be.  For the team's long term trajectory the individual results have been good(save for Taillon and I guess Mervis) and bordering on too good(increased likelihood of Stroman opt out).  Their biggest areas for improvement save for just adding a stud hitter or SP are among the easier things to address both internally(bullpen shuffle) and externally(1B/DH are not expensive).  If they can get Taillon out of that funk and back to at least being competitive I'll feel pretty good about them moving forward.

I hold the opinion that Stroman being so good he opts out is more likely to work out for the Cubs than seeing him stick around for a couple more years.

I liked 30 year old Stroman quite a lot, I'm far more wary of the 33 and beyond version.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I hold the opinion that Stroman being so good he opts out is more likely to work out for the Cubs than seeing him stick around for a couple more years.

I liked 30 year old Stroman quite a lot, I'm far more wary of the 33 and beyond version.

Stroman would be only opting out of 1 year though, he signed a 3 year deal with an opt out after 2. Which maybe was inevitable barring injury/collapse given the league wide spending last year, but a sub-3 ERA he's at now would almost certainly seal it.

[Brock Beauchamp]

4 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Stroman would be only opting out of 1 year though, he signed a 3 year deal with an opt out after 2. Which maybe was inevitable barring injury/collapse given the league wide spending last year, but a sub-3 ERA he's at now would almost certainly seal it.

Ah, thanks. I thought he had two more years.

Time flies when you're coming out of a pandemic and life is upside down for 2+ years.